Perceived Relative Deprivation Across the Adult Lifespan: An Examination of Aging and Cohort Effects

Abstract

Despite being a core psychological construct for over 70 years, research has yet to examine how perceptions of deprivation relative to other individuals and/or groups develop across adulthood. As such, this preregistered study uses cohort-sequential latent growth modeling to examine changes in individual- and group-based relative deprivation (IRD and GRD, respectively) across the adult lifespan. Across 10 annual assessments of a nationwide random sample of adults (Ntotal = 58,878; ethnic minority n = 11,927; 62.7% women; ages 21–80), mean levels of IRD trended downward across the lifespan, whereas mean levels of GRD generally increased from young-to-middle adulthood before declining across late adulthood. Subtle cohort effects emerged for both constructs, although both IRD and GRD largely followed a normative aging process. Critically, the development of GRD—but not IRD—differed between ethnic groups, providing insights into how one’s objective status may shape subjective (dis)advantage over time.